Inside RFF
Foundations
Recognize RFF’s
Role in Illuminating
Tough Policy Issues
O
nly six months into the 2005
fiscal year, RFF has recorded
an all-time high in foundation grants — its most successful in 25
years. Lesli Creedon, RFF’s vice president for external affairs, attributes this
to an enhanced appreciation by foundation board members, presidents, and
program officers for the unbiased, independent research and policy recommendations put forth by RFF scholars.
“Given the polarized atmosphere in
Washington, the highly contentious issues on the country’s agenda, and
many potentially pathbreaking policy
experiments being designed here and
abroad, RFF is increasingly called
upon to assist government officials and
members of the advocacy and business
communities with objective, pragmatic
ideas,” said Creedon. “Foundations
recognize how RFF’s research can play
a role in informing discussions and
formulating innovative policy measures — and are supporting our efforts
at record-high levels,” she added.
Grants awarded so far in fiscal year
2005 include:
$500,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation to continue the awarding
of RFF Fellowships in Environmental
Regulatory Implementation for two
more years
$270,000 from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to analyze policies that
affect antibiotic resistance, $100,000 to
SPRING 2005
analyze the benefits and costs associated with higher taxes on alcohol, and
an additional $60,000 to examine the
potential for converting urban brownfield sites into recreational areas
$200,000 from the Smith Richardson
Foundation to compare, contrast, and
evaluate U.S., European, and Japanese
voluntary approaches to managing environmental problems
$100,000 from the Energy Foundation
and $70,000 from The New York Community Trust to provide analytical expertise and modeling requested by the
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
$75,000 from the Lounsbery Foundation to help support the work of the
first holder of the Chauncey Starr
Chair in Risk Analysis at RFF
$50,000 from the G. Unger Vetlesen
Foundation to support communications and public education activities
around climate change
$50,000 from The German Marshall
Fund of the United States for The
German Marshall Fund Transatlantic
Fellowship at RFF
$50,000 from the Center for Global
Partnership to fund a workshop in
Japan for policymakers and analysts to
enhance U.S.–Japanese dialogue on
climate change
$25,000 from the Henry M. Jackson
Foundation for a series of Congressional briefings on the future of U.S.
energy policy, which will be held in
conjunction with GLOBE USA
$5,000 from the Cadeau Foundation
for communications and public education activities of RFF’s Electricity and
Environment Program
For information on any of these projects or on ways you can assist RFF in
furthering its research, please go to
www.rff.org or contact Lesli Creedon at
creedon@rff.org or (202) 328-5016. ■
At the recent RFF Council meeting in San Francisco, Chauncey Starr was honored for his great
generousity to RFF. He has donated $2 million to fund an endowed research chair in risk analysis, a field he helped pioneer. Starr, who founded the Electric Power Research Institute, now serves
as president emeritus at age 93 and is working on a new book. He is shown here, seated, surrounded by his wife and immediate family.
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